On this week’s episode of CinemAddicts, Anderson Cowan and I review The Brothers Grimsby, the latest offering from actor Sacha Baron Cohen (the Borat star also co-wrote the feature). The comedy centers on Nobby (Cohen), a soccer hooligan who is reunited with his brother (Mark Strong), now an MI-6 agent, after years of separation. When a political assassination is blamed on the agent, the siblings team up to take down the actual culprit. Penelope Cruz, Isla Fisher, and Ian McShane also star in the Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me) directed feature.

During the second segment I offer up my review of 10 Cloverfield Lane, first rate suspense thriller starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Goodman. Though The Brothers Grimsby should generate business thanks to Cohen, 10 Cloverfield Lane might be one of this year’s sleeper hits.

During the podcast’s final segment, I discuss my love for the recent Warner Archive Blu-ray release of Key Largo, and Anderson reviews two documentaries featuring Tig Notaro (Knock Knock It’s Tig Notaro, Tig). To listen to this week’s CinemAddicts, check out the Soundcloud bar below:

Although the final days of the year are usually devoted, at least film wise, to discussing the best and worst movies of the year, it’s also advantageous to know what movies may strike our fancy in 2016. One of the comedies we’re looking forward to is The Brothers Grimsby, which features the unlikely pairing of Sacha Baron Cohen (The Dictator, Bruno) and Mark Strong (Robin Hood).

Cohen’s comedy, which blends outrageous situations with subtly topical humor, and Strong’s penchant for playing laser focused protagonists should provide a wonderful mix to the film. Louis Leterrier, who directed the 2013 hit Now You See Me, is behind the camera, and all this top talent should translate into solid entertainment fare. Plus, the idea of long lost brothers (Cohen’s a soccer hooligan, Strong’s a spy) bonding while the world’s safety hangs in the balance also makes for an engagingly ridiculous plot.

Check out the trailer below (the recently released poster, featuring Cohen balancing a gun and a pint of beer, is also pretty amusing), and tell us if you’re also excited to see The Brothers Grimsby!

Well, nothing says “holidays” quite like poverty, pestilence, civil war and oppression than the songs that celebrate them. Opening in theaters on Christmas day, LES MISERABLES is the big screen adaptation of the hugely successful stage musical based on VICTOR HUGO’S 1862 novel. Directed for the screen by TOM HOOPER, the cast includes HUGH JACKMAN, RUSSELL CROWE, ANNE HATHAWAY, EDDIE REDMAYNE, AMANDA SEYFRIED, SACHA BARON COHEN and HELENA BONHAM-CARTER. Despite what would seem to be the melancholy nature of the story, it is ultimately one of hope and survival, two virtues that have a place in today’s world. At a press conference to promote the film, director TOM HOOPER explained that now is the perfect time to release LES MIZ. (CLICK ON THE MEDIA BAR FOR AUDIO)

Coming to theaters on Christmas day, LES MISERABLES is the big screen adaptation of the stage musical based on VICTOR HUGO’S 1862 novel. Directed for the screen by TOM HOOPER, the cast includes HUGH JACKMAN, RUSSELL CROWE, ANNE HATHAWAY, EDDIE REDMAYNE, AMANDA SEYFRIED, SACHA BARON COHEN and HELENA BONHAM-CARTER. Big, loud and very committed to its source material, the film is bound to thrill fans of the stage production and test the patience of those not so…well, “musically inclined”. During last week’s press conference promoting the film, ANNE HATHAWAY (an absolute lock to be Oscar nominated for her performance as Fantine) talked about the adoration the cast shared for the play. (CLICK ON THE MEDIA BAR FOR AUDIO)

Arriving in theaters next month, LES MISERABLES is the big-screen adaptation of the long-running Broadway musical inspired by the classic novel by VICTOR HUGO. Hugely popular, the show has run (in one incarnation or another) for over 30 years and won countless awards.

Already the subject of considerable “Oscar buzz”, the film is directed by TOM HOOPER from a script by WILLIAM NICHOLSON and features an impressive ensemble cast that includes HUGH JACKMAN, ANNE HATHAWAY, RUSSELL CROWE, SACHA BARON COHEN, HELENA BONHAM CARTER and AMANDA SEYFRIED. Almost all involved have musical stage experience and, judging from the trailers, it shows. Despite being a Broadway vet and Tony Award-winner, HUGH JACKMAN told us earlier this year that he not only had to audition for his role in the film but that he actually insisted on it. (CLICK ON THE MEDIA BAR FOR AUDIO)